HarperCollins

In a brief brief order this week, Judge Denise Cote ruled that plaintiffs in a second e-book price-fixing case cannot depose HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray.

The plaintiffs in the case (Australian upstart DNAML; Lavoho, LLC, a "successor" to the Diesel eBook Store; and Abbey House Media, formerly BooksOnBoard) had asked that Murray be required to sit for a deposition, but in her order, Cote sided with Harper attorneys, who argued Murray has been deposed three times in connection with the Apple price-fixing case

James Frey has never lacked for controversy. The Oprah-disgraced-turned-Oprah-redeemed novelist has walked a unique literary path. His newest venture, Full Fathom Five, is described as a 'transmedia' company, though it's unclear that anyone knows what that means. Full Fathom Five (FFF) made a splash with The Lorien Legacies, a young adult series published by Harper Collins. The first book,I Am Number Four, was made into a film. Since, FFF has packaged mostly young adult titles, and Frey has hit pay dirt once more with Endgame,

Last week Aerbooks picked up a huge amount of traffic from Neil Gaiman when he tweeted out to his 2 million followers that he books were now available directly from the HarperCollins website. As it happens, HarperCollins is using the Aerbook Flyer service "to broadly integrate HarperCollins books into the fabric of the mobile and social web - delivering a mobile and tablet-optimized extended reading experience on any website and within any social stream." The service "includes a buy button that allows customers to directly purchase titles from www.hc.com or other e-book retailers,"

On Tuesday, startups Scribd and Oyster both announced partnerships with publishing heavyweight Macmillan to bring over a thousand new titles to their respective e-book subscription services. That means the two startups are now working with majority of the so-called Big Five publishers; both had previously offered books from HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. The Macmillan partnership grows Scribd's $8.99-a-month a la carte collection to more than 500,000 book titles, in addition to the 30,000 audiobooks available on the service after Scribd added them late last year.

Today Macmillan becomes the third Big 5 publisher to make its works available on ebook subscriptions sites Oyster and Scribd, joining HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. The move to subscription comes as no surprise. In a year-end letter to staff Macmillan CEO John Sargent wrote that, "We plan to try subscription with backlist books, and mostly with titles that are not well represented at bricks and mortar retail stores."

It's a cheerful orange giant stuffed with fan fiction and smileys which can garner a billion reads for an erotic One Direction story - scoring 25-year-old Texan Anna Todd a six-figure publishing deal in the process. But Wattpad also has a serious side as a thriving culture of original writing, with a small but steady flow of authors finding mainstream success with Big Six publishers such as Random House and Harper Collins. Half a dozen of these authors are getting together in the real world mid-December, at Wattpad's first UK convention.

European publishers have long been dabbling in offering free ebooks to passengers on trains and buses and now HarperCollins is getting into the mix. The publisher announced this morning that it would be participating in JetBlue's Fly-Fi Hub service, which launched this morning.
Pitched as a free source of content for JetBlue passengers, the Fly-Fi Hub draws from a variety of media companies and publishers, including Time inc, National Geographic, and HarperCollins. Time will be supplying its monthly magazines while NG supplies shows, and HarperCollins will be providing excerpts of recently published books.

Along with from the Journal and the New York Post, News Corp's properties include the Australian newspaper, book publishers HarperCollins and Harlequin Enterprises, stakes in Australian pay-TV and digital real estate businesses, and education company Amplify.

HarperCollins Publishers today announced HarperCollins Presents, a new, global podcast network that brings listeners conversation and inspiration from authors, editors and creators, and promises new perspectives on the world of books, culture and arts. Each week the HarperCollins Presents podcast series will feature an exchange of ideas from leading authors and creatives – from home-grown heroes to global stars. It will take listeners behind the scenes, explaining the mysteries of the creative process and inspiring fans to think differently.

HarperCollins has unveiled plans to expand in the German book market. At the Frankfurt Book Fair, DW's Manuela Kasper-Claridge spoke to CEO Brian Murray about new book formats and their challenges for the US publisher.

DW: Mr. Murray, do you see any new market trends at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair?

Brian Murray: We still see this trend of globalization where rights are being sold of our authors in more and more countries. And also there's this continuing trend of innovation on the digital front.